Hana Gabrielle Pestle (born July 11, 1989) is an American singer/songwriter from Billings, Montana.[1]Contents [hide] 1 Biography 2 History 3 References 4 External links
[edit] Biography
Hana Pestle was born July 11, 1989 in Atlanta, Georgia. Her family moved to Salt Lake City, Utah when she was 6 years old, and to Billings, Montana when she was 8. Pestle received her first guitar when she was in 6th grade as a Christmas present, and approximately a year later, she took up lessons. Sporadically throughout both middle and high school, Hana also took voice lessons. [edit] History
Hana Pestle started performing live in Montana at the age of 14. In August 2005, one of Hana's performance DVD's reached producers and writers Michael "Fish" Herring and Ben Moody. After watching the tape, the pair decided to work with Pestle. She and her family traveled to Los Angeles, California to meet with the producers in December 2005, and started working on her album in April 2006.[2]
In May 2008, Pestle released her first recording effort, the four track Hana Pestle EP. This album features three original songs, "These Two Hands", "Just a Phase", "Together Forever"; and a cover of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah". In late September 2008, Pestle debuted her video for "These Two Hands" through her MySpace and YouTube page. Hana's untitled album, which is slated for release in September 2009, will feature tracks co-written and produced by Moody and Herring.[2][3][4] Strings for the album will be arranged and conducted by David Campbell. After shopping for labels in early 2007, Pestle decided to release her full length album via Ben Moody's label, FNR Records.[5][6] Pestle also lends her vocals to all four tracks on Ben Moody's solo EP, the Mutiny Bootleg E.P., which was released at a show that the pair played together on December 16, 2008 in Little Rock, Arkansas. She also lent vocals to Moody's full-length album, All for This. Pestle's most recent release is her Live in the Studio EP. It was released on June 2, 2009 and features six original songs and one cover song. The tracks include "These Two Hands", "Just a Phase", "Rain", "Make You Hurt", "This Way", "Creep", and "What Makes Things".[1]
In June 2008, Pestle landed a slot as an opening act for Collective Soul, Live and Blues Traveler. More recently Pestle has toured with Joshua Radin, Jon McLaughlin, Ingram Hill, and in 2009, Sister Hazel, Pat McGee, Ari Hest, and Boyce Avenue. On June 4, 2009, Pestle played at the annual Wakarusa Music and Camping Festival.
The weekend of March 21, 2009, Pestle recorded a video for her original song "Need". The video was directed by Norwood Cheek, and was released on June 24, 2009.
Pestle's debut solo album, This Way, was released on her own merch site, hanamerch.com on September 22, 2009. A larger-scale release of the album is planned for the early months of 2010.
